This started at a Harley dealer. I was there to talk to the person who runs the riders education there, I wanted a class for my son so he could get his license. I talked to some sales men and heard this gem from one of them,
"A race mechanic told me that conventional oil actually cools an engine better than synthetic. The synthetic oil runs cooler because it does not take as much heat away from the engine as conventional oil.
The oil is cooler, but the engine itself is hotter because it doesn't pull the heat from the parts. Of course this is only true for air cooled engines."
Needless to say I was stunned. Could someone really believe this?
Anyway, since I have an air cooled bike I decided to put this to a real test. Now this is not as purely scientific as I would like it to be, but it's the best I could do at the time.
I had originally planned to run both sets of numbers on the same day, but rain on the day I was going to do that prevented that. So instead this happened on consecutive days on my way home from work.
What I did was ride the same route each day home, 12 miles of freeway followed by 9 miles of stop and go traffic. This would have the bike fully up to operating temperature.
Then I rode 3.5 miles at 60 MPH with no stops to get a nice even temperature, I then pulled into a parking spot and took temperature readings as quickly as I could.
Then I rode another 2 mile stretch and pulled over, but this time I allowed the bike to idle for 2 minutes before taking my readings to simulate temperatures while sitting at a stop light,
Finally I finished my ride home, stop and go traffic. This is the least controlled part of the ride. But I took temperature reads at home anyway just to ensure the temps had gone down from the stop light simulation.
All temperature readings were taken with the bike shut down to help stabilize the readings. I think any wind blowing would change the temperatures less than if I had left the bike running.
The test Mule. My BMW R 1100 S. |
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OK, Testing starts with the Oil. I used Motorcycle Specific mineral oil. I didn't want the results affected by an oil that was not specific to motorcycles since my regular oil is motorcycle specific. This is the oil they had at my local bike shop, I expect other MC specific oils would have performed the same. | ![]() |
I used this infrared thermometer to take the temperature readings. Not lab quality but it will read consistently with itself so the results will still show if there is any difference between the temperatures the bike runs because of the different oil | ![]() |
I took temperature readings at several spots. First was in the center of the head. This is the top of the combustion chamber. |
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I also took readings at the exhaust port and on the barrel where the piston is moving through the bore I took these readings from both cylinders. I also took a reading of the oil sump, that would give me the temperature of the oil. |
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Temperature at the start of the ride | 88 degrees |
Winds at the start of the ride | Light |
Right Head | 288.5 Degrees |
Right Exhaust | 279 Degrees |
Right Barrel | 270 Degrees |
Left Head | 279.5 Degrees |
Left Exhaust | 276.3 Degrees |
Left Barrel | 273 Degrees |
Oil Sump | 203 Degrees |
Right Head | 300 Degrees |
Right Exhaust | 326 Degrees |
Right Barrel | 292 Degrees |
Left Head | 301 Degrees |
Left Exhaust | 301 Degrees |
Left Barrel | 284 Degrees |
Oil Sump | 222.8 Degrees |
Right Head | 302 Degrees |
Right Exhaust | 302 Degrees |
Right Barrel | 294 Degrees |
Left Head | 290 Degrees |
Left Exhaust | 296 Degrees |
Left Barrel | 284 Degrees |
Oil Sump | 215 Degrees |
Now on to my normal oil. What can I say, I'm an Amsoil salesman. Although I'm sure other synthetic oils would work similarly. | ![]() |
Temperature at the start of the ride | 93 degrees |
Winds at the start of the ride | Light |
Right Head | 292 Degrees |
Right Exhaust | 301 Degrees |
Right Barrel | 286.7 Degrees |
Left Head | 297.9 Degrees |
Left Exhaust | 285.5 Degrees |
Left Barrel | 266.4 Degrees |
Oil Sump | 215.3 Degrees |
Right Head | 312.2 Degrees |
Right Exhaust | 323.6 Degrees |
Right Barrel | 300.0 Degrees |
Left Head | 304.1 Degrees |
Left Exhaust | 306.5 Degrees |
Left Barrel | 296 Degrees |
Oil Sump | 227.3 Degrees |
Right Head | 302.3 Degrees |
Right Exhaust | 311.9 Degrees |
Right Barrel | 289.7 Degrees |
Left Head | 299.3 Degrees |
Left Exhaust | 292.1 Degrees |
Left Barrel | 291.2 Degrees |
Oil Sump | 233 Degrees |
Temperature at the start of the ride | 88 degrees | Temperature at the start of the ride | 93 degrees |
Winds at the start of the ride | Light | Winds at the start of the ride | Light |
Right Head | 288.5 Degrees | Right Head | 292 Degrees |
Right Exhaust | 279 Degrees | Right Exhaust | 301 Degrees |
Right Barrel | 270 Degrees | Right Barrel | 286.7 Degrees |
Left Head | 279.5 Degrees | Left Head | 297.9 Degrees |
Left Exhaust | 276.3 Degrees | Left Exhaust | 285.5 Degrees |
Left Barrel | 273 Degrees | Left Barrel | 266.4 Degrees |
Oil Sump | 203 Degrees | Oil Sump | 215.3 Degrees |
Right Head | 300 Degrees | Right Head | 312.2 Degrees |
Right Exhaust | 326 Degrees | Right Exhaust | 323.6 Degrees |
Right Barrel | 292 Degrees | Right Barrel | 300.0 Degrees |
Left Head | 301 Degrees | Left Head | 304.1 Degrees |
Left Exhaust | 301 Degrees | Left Exhaust | 306.5 Degrees |
Left Barrel | 284 Degrees | Left Barrel | 296 Degrees |
Oil Sump | 222.8 Degrees | Oil Sump | 227.3 Degrees |
Right Head | 302 Degrees | Right Head | 302.3 Degrees |
Right Exhaust | 302 Degrees | Right Exhaust | 311.9 Degrees |
Right Barrel | 294 Degrees | Right Barrel | 289.7 Degrees |
Left Head | 290 Degrees | Left Head | 299.3 Degrees |
Left Exhaust | 296 Degrees | Left Exhaust | 292.1 Degrees |
Left Barrel | 284 Degrees | Left Barrel | 291.2 Degrees |
Oil Sump | 215 Degrees | Oil Sump | 233 Degrees |
The other point here, for this "Urban Legand" to be true. The "Specific heat" of the oils would have to be different. In a basic description specific heat is a measure of a substances (Liquid, solid, gas)
ability to absorb heat. This article in Wikipedia discusses the topic
So again, the oils would have to be a very different make up for the conventional oil to carry away more heat than the synthetic. And that is not the case.